Moving Forward
by EvilLydia
Summary: This takes place several years after what I assume is going to be the end where Salem and Ozma both 'die'. However, Oscar retains a lot of Ozpin's memories. But that doesn't mean that Grim are gone, there just aren't as many as before.


This takes place several years after what I assume is going to be the end where Salem and Ozma both 'die'. However, Oscar retains a lot of Ozpin's memories. But that doesn't mean that Grim are gone, there just aren't as many as before. I don't own RWBY

Chapter 1 - A Time for Celebration

Nora was bubbling over with excitement when Goodwitch told them the news, they want Ren to be a teacher of Haven. Ren, being his normal, sensible self, argued that he had no experience teaching. But, in the end, he was overruled. Oscar would be there too but in the shadows to help guide him. Although it was more likely Ren was going to be the one guiding him. Along with Goodwitch everything should be fine.

Even though they agreed to go out for lunch to celebrate, Ren was acting weird, but he wouldn't tell her what was going on. However, all of that was temporarily forgotten when they saw their friends.

Ruby ran right up to Ren and squealed, "I can't believe it!" She shouted. He made a face but smiled slightly at her enthusiasm. "Ren, teacher at Haven. This is the best thing ever!"

"You totally deserve it." Yang smiled broadly at him. She and Nora were started to arm wrestle, although they both knew who was going to win. While Ren and Ruby began walking down the street.

At Ruby's distracted gaze they saw a beautiful Altas ship gliding toward the port. "Look's like Weiss is here at least."

As the four of them started to go to meet up with her Ren caught Nora's hand. He was fumbling with in his pocket for a moment. "Nora," his voice had a strangeness to it, "I wanted to-, well, I mean, I have this-"

"What are you guys doing?" Yang had returned to push them along.

"Ren had something to tell me."

"Ah, no," Ren shook his head and put whatever it was away. "Lets go." He pushed past them.

"That was... odd." Yang pointed out.

Nora crossed her arms and shook her head. "All week."

As the girls talked about what could possibly be wrong with him, Ren went to stand next to Ruby. She had her hands clenched in anticipation with her eyes locked on the ship. "So," Ren began awkwardly, "you and Jaune have started dating?"

"Uh," she have him an uncertain look, "was that a question?"

"Yes, I mean I know but... you know." he stumbled through. "Sorry, I'm acting weird. I've got a lot going on."

"It's OK. Yeah, Jaune's a really nice guy." She looked at her feet, "I know I'm not Pyrrha and I'm not trying to be. But I think we could be happy."

Ren gently placed a hand on her shoulder and she was filled with a sort o warmth and security. Part of her wondered if this was how Ren made her feel or if it was just his semblance. "I think so too."

Once the ship was safely on in the port several mechs marched out the door. Weiss was right behind them with her arm looped in Neptune's. "Guys!" he smiled at them, "We've got really exciting news!"

"We've just announced our engagement." Weiss smiled slyly.

"Oh my goodness!" Ruby practically tackled Weiss in a hug. "I'm so happy for you."

"Sure you can handle the Schnee Company?" Nora nudged Neptune with her elbow.

"Heh," he glanced away a little awkwardly, "Weiss is handling everything with the company." he pointed at her and she smiled proudly.

Ren sighed deeply and looked away. Nora gave him a concerned glance but left it alone for now.

As the six of them started walking to Neptune's favorite restaurant they all caught up on what they had been doing lately. "Where's Jaune?" Neptune asked Ruby.

Her smiled faded slightly, "Oscar sent him on a job. He should be back any day."

"You guys like each other, right?" He tried to change the subject, "I mean he's got like, a ton of knowledge and experience. And he's pretty much in charge of everything. So, that's cool."

Ruby gave him a confused look but it was Yang that answered, "What are you talking about? Jaune's an idiot." At Ruby's annoyed look, she clarified. "A cute idiot."

He raised an eyebrow, "I meant Oscar. You guys had a thing, right?"

Ruby looked uncomfortable, "Oscar is... he's nice. And smart and yeah, powerful. But it's weird. It's like, I don't know, dating Ozpin."

"Oh... yeah, that's weird."

The continued talking all the way to the restaurant. It was amazing how much this little noodle shop had expanded over the years. Even though it wasn't his policy the owner allowed them to have a private room without a reservation for their impromptu party. It turned out that he remembered them from Beacon.

"So~" Yang drawled out, "I heard that Blake and Sun are living together in Menagerie."

"Yeah," Neptune answered, "She wanted to do good for her home and he is just... really persistent." They all laughed, it was pretty nice, although it would have been nicer if they could have been together.

When the waitress came around everyone ordered except Yang. "Yang, What's wrong?" Ruby asked.

Yang smiled and hooked her arm around Ruby's neck to draw her close, "Nothing, I'm just not hungry."

"Are Sun and Blake going to join us?" Ren asked Neptune.

"Nah," Neptune leaned back, "Sun said Blake was super worried about stuff and wasn't going anywhere."

Yang rolled her eyes, "Yeah, that sounds like Blake."

"You know Ren," Weiss said in a very matter-of-fact voice, "being a teacher is a very important and difficult responsibility."

"I am aware." he matched her tone.

"Hey Weiss," Yang broke up the stiffness in the air, "How are you planning on running the company _and _straying in the military."

Weiss brushed her hair out of the way, "Believe it or not, Whitley is very business savvy. He had always wanted to run the company so that's what he's doing, even though everything is in my name."

"I thought you guys didn't like each other." Ruby pointed out.

"We don't," Weiss shrugged it off, "but we don't have to for the business to work."

Yang made a face, "That sounds..."

"Super awkward," Neptune finished, "Yes, it really is."

For the next couple of hours they ate and laughed. Yang showed off the improvements made to her arm. Jaune called Ruby halfway through the evening but the signal wasn't strong enough to tell him everything that happened. When it was finally time to say good night they were full and happy.

xxxxxxxxxx

Ren made sure that Nora was asleep before walking out on the balcony of their hotel room. The city lights made everything shimmer.

He deeply regretted hesitating earlier this week. He pulled out the tiny silver ring. It was simply, with the only embellishment being a single word engraved on the inside; _FlowerPower._ But with all the other exciting things happening, he thought it was best to wait. The wait was so painful, no unbearable but it was for the best.

xxxxxx

It was nearly 3am when Blake's scroll rang. Annoyed, she looked at who she was about to hang up on. But, upon seeing Yang's face on the screen, she picked up. "Hello?" her voice laced with sleep. Sun turned away from her in his sleep.

"Hey Blake," Blake noted that she sounded different but she couldn't tell exactly what that meant. "Um, sorry for calling so late."

"What's the matter?" Blake was waking up.

"Nothing," it was obvious from her voice that she was lying. "I just, I... I need to talk to someone."

"Yang, what happened?" Blake felt her heart clench. Yang never reached out like this.

There was a silence on the other end of the line for a moment. She was about to check if they got disconnected when Yang started speaking again. "I think I'm pregnant."

"What!?" Blake nearly dropped the scroll. Sun started to stir so she got up and walked outside. "Are you sure?"

"No," Yang replied gravely, "I haven't taken a test or anything but I have symptoms. I'm not ready for this. I can't be a mom."

"Does Ruby know?"

"No, no one does." Yang's voice was getting heavy with emotion.

"What about the guy? Are you going to tell him?" Blake was getting more and more concerned. Yang wasn't the type to stay in one place for very long at a time.

Yang laughed wryly, "There's no one to tell. I was messing around with one of my pals before going own ways. I don't even know how to find him again."

Blake sighed, "OK, listen, you're in Mistral, right? Don't go anywhere. I'll get there as soon as I can."

"Thank you Blake."

"Hey, we're teammates, right?"

Once they hung up Blake returned to the bedroom and started packing. "Whatcha doin'" Sun was rubbing his eyes.

"I'm going to Mistral." She continued what she was doing without missing a beat.

"What's cool, but," he seemed a little hesitate, "I thought we were keeping a secret."

She turned to him sharply, "She needs me!" she snapped.

"OK, OK," he held his hands up. "Let me just pack." He got up and picked up his discarded jacket. "OK, when are we leaving?"

He was hit in the head with one of her shirts. "At sunrise there is a ship heading for Vale. From there I can get to Mistral."

xxxxxxxx

The next morning Ren, Nora, Ruby, Weiss, Yang and Neptune went out for breakfast. They all agreed that these pancakes 'fell flat' compared to Ren's. Weiss rolled her eyes at Yang's lame joke but Neptune got a chuckle out of it.

"So, have you found a house yet?" Neptune asked Ren.

Ren shook his head, "Ah, not yet. School doesn't start for a couple months so I have a little time."

"Ren and I are going house hunting together!" Nora interjected. "It's going to be great. A real house that's really mine!" Ren smiled slightly at her. This was exciting for him too.

As Nora was talking off Neptune's ear, Ruby scooted closer to Yang. "Yang, are you really OK?"

"I'm really OK Ruby," Ruby accepted this but didn't really believe her.

"Why do you think something's wrong?"

Ruby frowned, "You're acting weird."

"Come on, we have to go home soon, might as well enjoy Haven while we're here." She dragged her sister to her feet.

In the two days that they spent there, they packed more than a weeks worth of action.

It was mid-morning when the ship from Vale arrived. Sun and sent a message to Neptune that he was coming so it was no surprise when he was waiting at the docks.

Sun was one of the first people off the ship. He rushed over to Neptune and they gave each other a quick hug. "OK, don't get mad," he started.

Neptune narrowed his eyes, "Why would I be mad?"

Sun gave him a guilty smile, "Well," he stepped out of the way as Blake stepped off the ship, "that."

Neptune looked her over carefully but he couldn't see anything that might be wrong with her. In fact, the only thing that had changed was her hair was now shoulder length. "What?"

Sun gripped his arm, "You don't notice!"

"Uh..."

"Hello Neptune," Blake said bashfully.

"This guy didn't even notice." Sun said with mock hurt.

"What didn't I notice!?" Neptune shouted.

"We're going to have a baby!" Sun shook him by the shoulders. "Don't you see him growing!"

"It's not really that noticeable." Blake said, "Where is everyone?"

After Neptune managed to free himself he said, "Wow, congratulations, that's so awesome. Do you know if it's going to be a boy or girl?"

"It's too early for that" Blake said.

"It's definatly going to be a boy." Sun smiled, to Blake's annoyance.

"Anyway," Neptune continued, "They're at Sunrise Hotel. Well, except Ren and Nora. They are house hunting."

"So, they're seriously moving here?" Sun asked as the three of them started walking to the hotel.

"Ren is going to be teaching at Haven." Blake answered, "So, yes."

Sun crossed his arms, "How did you know?"

She rolled his eyes, "Just because I don't live on the mainland doesn't mean I stopped talking to my friends."

"Oh, hey Neptune?" Sun brushed it off, "How was meeting the family?"

"Like a hostel takeover." Neptune said, as if they very memory was awkward.

"I'm so surprised." Blake said sarcastically.

"That bad?" Sun asked.

"No, I meant literally." Neptune replied. "She came in, didn't introduce me or anything, and told her father and brother that they needed to talk. She left me with her mom. That was super weird. She thought that I worked there and didn't believe me when I said I didn't. They were in the office for hours and then some mechs arrested her dad."

"Seriously?" Sun asked.

"Totally," Neptune continued. "Then she and her brother were, like, threatening each other but not." At his friends odd looks he continued, "Like they were implying stuff without saying anything. Neither of them even acknowledged me for like a week. So I went exploring."

"Find anything cool?" Sun asked.

Neptune shrugged, "There's a ton of secret passages through the house."

When they reached the hotel Weiss, Ruby and Yang were hanging around the courtyard. Upon seeing her, Yang ran over and hugged Blake. "I have some news." Blake announced to everyone. "Sun and I," she paused and glanced at him for reassurance, "we're going to have a baby."

Yang blinked a couple of times and stepped back while Ruby and Weiss gushed over her.

"We were going to wait and surprised everyone." Sun explained.

xxxxxxxxx

Over the next few days everyone went home except Yang, Blake and, of course Sun. It took a lot of convincing but Sun did finally go visit Scarlet. Meanwhile, Blake and Yang went walking through the park hand in hand.

"Why didn't you tell me you were pregnant?" Yang asked.

Blake sighed, "I thought you had enough to deal with."

Yang smiled at her gently, "I always have time for you."

Blake smiled back. "Are you going to go to your dad's house now?" she asked for a moment.

Yang let go of her hand and stopped walking. "I hadn't thought about it." She paused and looked away into the distance. "My dad raised me and my sister all by himself. It wouldn't be fair to push this on him as well."

Blake stepped in front of her and grabbed both her hands, "Don't you think he'd feel worse if you kept it from him? Someone once taught an important lesson. That sometimes, when you try to keep everything to yourself to be strong, you hurt those that care about you the most. Although," she smiled slyly, "she didn't say it so bluntly."

Yang smiled back and hugged her. "Thank you. I don't know what I'd do without you."

xxxxxxxx

One month passed since Ren accepted the job at Haven. Finally, he and Nora found the perfect little two bedroom house.

As they were on the way to sign the papers to their new house he stopped them. It was a beautiful day and they could see the city skyline from where they stood. The sun reflected off the windows of the city so perfectly.

"Nora," he said as strongly as he could.

"Yes Ren?" Nora said. She glanced down the road, "We're going to be late."

He sighed, "I decided long ago that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. Please, stay with me forever? I know it's selfish, but I couldn't live in this world without you."

She looked shocked for a moment, "Don't be silly, Ren." She clutched his hand in hers, lowered it and kissed him on the lips. "I always knew I'd be with you forever. Even before we started dating. Is this why you've been acting weird lately?" He smiled bashfully.

He used his other hand to pet the side of her head, "Good, Let's go buy a house."

xxxxxx

Taiyang had to be away from home for a while but, when he was finished with work he noticed a pet store. He figured he could catch a ship home in the morning.

Zwie had passed away a couple of years ago. As he looked at each of the puppies, he thought of his girls. He couldn't be more proud of them.

Suddenly, his scroll rang. He expected Ruby or maybe Oobleck but it was Yang. She didn't really call very often so he was somewhat surprised. "Hey Sweetie," he greeted her.

"Hey dad," he loved her sunny voice. "How's it going?" she sounded like there was something wrong but he had found that it was best to let her have her space until she was ready to talk.

"Great," he smiled into the scroll, "Things are going pretty well over here. How are you?"

"I'm good," she answered. "How is Signal?" At this point it sounded like she was just talking to talk.

"We should have a really good year." He answered, hoping that she would get to what she really wanted to say.

"That's good." she paused.

"Yang," He said firmly, "I know you didn't call to talk about Signal." He thought that just a little push would move her forward.

There was a silence. Taiyang knew that the best way to handle this was to let her speak on her own. She was like her mother in that sense. As she grew he had worried that she would leave him as well, but she didn't. Somehow, this girl managed to live her own life while staying a part of his.

"Can I come home for a while?" she asked reluctantly.

He knit his brow, "Of course. If there something wrong?"

"Can I just talk to you in person?" She suddenly sounded very tired.

"Yeah, I'll be back home in the morning." he replied gently. "It's good to hear from you."

"Yeah," she breathed, "you too."

xxxxxxx

Winter seemed to pass as quickly as it came. Jaune looked longingly at the glass store front. Most of their friends were engaged or already had children on the way. He loved Ruby and thought that this was the logical next move but he was still holding back. What if he was wrong and this wasn't what she wanted?

"Hey," he heard her chipper voice. He turned around quickly.

"Hey," he responded, more strained than he meant to.

"Something wrong?" She eyed his carefully.

"Nope," he answered quickly.

She put her hand on her hips and looked him over critically. "Let's go before Mr. Ironwood gets mad at us." She gave up trying to figure out what he was up to.

Mr. Ironwood had called a meeting with the best hunters he could find. Jaune and Ruby were both asked to attend as well. In fact, he had a first class ship come to pick them up.

Even though the ride wasn't very long it was enough for them to speculate what the meeting might be about.

When they got to Atlas there was a car waiting for them. "They're really rolling out the red carpet, huh?" Jaune whispered to Ruby, who snorted. Ruby tried to make conversation with the driver on the way there but he remained stoic.

They were quickly led to the war room where around 20 very intimidating looking hunters sat around a round table projecting a 3-D map of Remnant. Even though he didn't think it, Jaune himself could be intimidating when he got serious.

"Hi," Ruby gave a little wave as the two of them took their seats. They were met with silence.

It was a _long _10 minutes before the meeting started. At least they weren't the last people there, there was one other person who came and quietly took her seat. Mr. Ironwood walked into the room with purpose and stood at the front of the table. "Thank you all for coming." He looked at each of them in turn.

He tapped a few buttons and the projection changed to Beacon. "I'm sure everyone here is aware of what happened to Beacon. Now is the time to fix it."

Ruby was filled with hope and the cat faunus next to her twitched the ears on the top of his head with impatience. There was some mumbling but barely above that she could hear someone whisper, "Calm down, Grise."

"That place is crawling with more Grim then anywhere in Remnant." An older man from the back pointed out, "Don't you think that Beacon is a lost cause like Mountain Glenn?" There was a murmur of agreement.

Mr. Ironwood cleared his throat, "We have a special weapon," He gestured to Ruby who got very nervous at all the attention.

"This little girl?" asked another.

"Ms. Rose has an ability beyond what anyone here in this room possesses. We plan to use that to clear Beacon and restore it to it's former glory." Mr. Ironwood said firmly.

He waited until the room quieted down. "Each of you will be given a small team with the exception of a few. From there you will be assigned a sector to secure. You will also be responsible for assisting your neighboring sectors if they need it."

"Who are the exceptions?" Jaune asked.

Mr. Ironwood nodded, "Some of you tend to work better together, such as you and Mr. Rose. The Grise brothers will also be a team, as well as Mr. March and Mr. Simon. You may decide who is the leader of your teams on your own."

The rest of the meeting was just assigning the sectors. The date was set, March 15th they would move out. It wasn't very far away. Even though it was terrifying, Ruby and Jaune were assigned the school itself. There were still several who doubted and questioned Ruby on what she could do. She had been told not to reveal the secret about her eyes, so she brushed it off.

When they returned to northern Vale, Jaune took Ruby's hand and held it all they way out of the airport. He had started to walk her home but she turned suddenly so they were going the wrong direction. "I didn't want to go home yet."

He smiled gently at her. After they had been walking a while they found themselves in the park, "Hey Ruby-"

"Jaune, I need to tell you-" They started talking at the same time.

"You go first," Jaune let go of her hand.

She took a deep breath. "Jaune Arc," He raised an eyebrow as she started lowering on a knee, "Will my be my husband?" She presented a black ring with a line of silver running through the center and a small blue stone embedded in it.

"Oh my God, Ruby. I don't know what to say." Jaune stared at her with shock.

"I hope you say yes." she said, "I wanted to wait but, going back to Beacon is dangerous. I just don't want to die without showing you how much I love you."

He helped her up and wrapped his arms around her. "Of course," he whispered into her hair, "I love you so much."


End file.
